Chusquea parviligulata (Poaceae: Bambusoideae: Bambuseae): a new species of C. subg. Chusquea endemic to the Atlantic rainforest of Bahia, Brazil

Abstract

Chusquea parviligulata, a new species of Neotropical woody bamboo (Bambuseae: Chusqueinae), is herein described and illustrated, and information on its morphology, conservation status and distribution are provided. It is classified within C. subg. Chusquea based on its relatively elongated internodes, differentiated culm leaves, a triangular and vertically oriented central bud, and infravaginal branching. Based on its occurrence in Brazil and the presence of a white waxy band below the nodes and infravaginal branching, C. parviligulata is further assigned to the C. meyeriana informal group. Within this group, C. parviligulata is most similar to C. clemirae and C. longispiculata, sharing the usually evident division of the subsidiary buds/branches into two groups as well as a triangular central bud and little to no fusion of the overlapping margin of the culm leaf sheaths. Chusquea parviligulata is characterized by having 20–42 subsidiary buds per node; foliage leaf blades adaxially scabrous near the margins and otherwise glabrous or sparsely setose and abaxially mostly glabrous, with a tuft of trichomes at the base; foliage leaf blade base attenuate and slightly asymmetric; and an inner ligule 0.05–0.2 mm long, among the shortest recorded for the genus. Chusquea parviligulata is found exclusively in the Serra da Pedra Lascada, a montane Atlantic Rainforest area in southern Bahia, and it has a restricted occurrence within the Serra. We also report a new locality for C. clemirae and confirm that is has infravaginal branching, not extravaginal branching as originally reported.

Diversity, distribution, and classification of Neotropical woody bamboos (Poaceae: Bambusoideae) in the 21st Century

“…Greco et al (2015) recorded 164 native woody bamboo taxa for Brazil, among them varieties, subspecies, uncertain species, and synonyms, and Filgueiras & Viana (2017) cited 18 genera and 165 species, several of them endemics and endangered with extinction. Here we record 17 genera and 168 species, 16 of them newly described since the compilation by Greco et al (2015) (Parma et al 2016, Mota et al 2017, Vidal et al 2018, Jesus-Costa et al 2018b, Pianissola et al 2018, Afonso et al 2019, Andrade et al 2019.…”

“…Chusqueinae is the second most diverse subtribe among the NWB with 191 described species in one single genus. Since 1999, 42 new species and 17 new combinations have been described (Supplementary material 1; Clark & March 2000, Clark 2003, 2004a, b, Clark & Losure 2005, Niño et al 2006, Clark et al 2007c, Clark & Blong 2009, Fisher et al 2011, Clark & Ely 2013, Guerreiro & Rúgolo de Agrasar 2013, 2014, b, Ruiz-Sanchez & Clark 2013, Ruiz-Sanchez et al 2014a, b, Ruiz-Sanchez et al 2015b, Alegría-Olivera et al 2017, Attigala et al 2017, Mota et al 2017, Ruiz-Sanchez et al 2017a, Pianissola et al 2018, Vidal et al 2018, Andrade et al 2019, Clark & Mason 2019, Fadrique et al 2019, Clark & Kaul 2020. Chusquea is divided into five subgenera: Table 1.…”